Berry not keen on late-season day-night trial

South Australia coach Darren Berry has expressed his frustration that a trial of pink balls and day-night Sheffield Shield cricket could help decide the tournament. All three matches in the next Shield round will be played as day-night fixtures trialling a pink ball against a black sight-screen as Cricket Australia remains keen to pursue night Test cricket in the coming seasons.

The day-night round was announced in August and Cricket Australia said at the time that if successful, more day-night Shield games would be scheduled next summer with a view to hosting a night Test in 2015-16. Berry said that while such a trial was justified, he would have preferred it take place earlier in the summer.

"All teams have got the same situation and whoever adapts best ... but, yeah, round nine in Shield cricket - interesting timing," Berry said. "If we're going to experiment with anything, do it earlier rather than late. But both teams have got to do it. What we are going to get, I can't tell you ... it is unknown. No one really knows."

Only two rounds of the Shield campaign remain and the competition at the top of the points table is strong, with Western Australia and South Australia both on 26 points and New South Wales close behind on 24. South Australia are hoping to reach the Shield final for the first time since their 1995-96 triumph, although they have already shown vast improvements on their wooden spoons in the past four seasons.

South Australia host New South Wales at Adelaide Oval in the day-night round, which starts next Monday. In the other pink-ball games, Victoria will play Tasmania at the MCG and Queensland will host Western Australia.